There are different rules for applicants of working age and applicants of pension age. This is all explained in our Council Tax Reduction Scheme documents.
Working Age Scheme
Our scheme is reviewed each year.
For 2024-25 the Council has applied a banded approach to entitlement to reduce administration costs to providing this financial assistance to your Council Tax bill. The banded approach will;
- Provide fewer changes applied to your annual entitlement to create a stable approach to council tax collection for the year.
- Reduce the number of letters and new bills for Council tax, as each time a change is applied a new notification by law has to be sent to you.
- If you have a direct debit for the remaining amount after your Council Tax Reduction has been applied, this is less likely to changes to your award will only be made if you banding entitlement changes in year.
Your letters will not include an applicable amount anymore as this is not required in our scheme. For people who have both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, your letters will look different.
Since 2013 Council Tax Reduction has no longer been a ‘benefit’ and administered by the local authorities for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), but a ‘discount’ and local authorities administer this award for the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The Council's approach this year is to award a discount to the Council Tax charge based upon a percentage, to mirror other discounts within Council Tax legislation upon reducing the amount of council tax that needs to be paid.
We have continued to protect the following groups and principles within the scheme for 2024-25;
- Passported Benefit claims (where people are awarded Job Seekers Allowance-Income Based, Employment Support Allowance-Income Related and Income Support) will receive full Council Tax Reduction, less any non-dependant deductions.
- Protected Child Benefit payments. When we calculate the weekly amount of money which the household receives, this money is not included. This is the same as the previous years’ schemes.
- Maintained the earnings disregards. Where claims have a wage or salary used in the calculation, an amount is disregarded based on your circumstances. Please check the scheme documents for further details
- Working Tax Credit will have the additional disregard applied to the WTC award where 30 hours of employment is reported to HMRC.
- Child care costs are disregarded up to the levels of a single child £175 and more than one child of £300 per week
- Child Tax Credits are not used in working out your income.
- Capital levels are still used. Claimants who have access to more than £16,000 will not qualify for help towards their Council Tax bill. Claims which have between £6,000 and £15,999.99 will have a tariff income applied of £1 for every £250 above £6,000. This is matching the previous year’s scheme.
- Non-dependant deductions remain in our scheme and the deductions are based upon the band in which your entitlement to CTR is applied.
| Band | Your weekly income 2024/25 | Discount on council tax bill |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | £0 - £184 | 100% |
| 2 | £184.01 - £275 | 75% |
| 3 | £275.01 - £375 | 50% |
| 4 | £375.01 - £452 | 25% |
| 5 | £452.01 and over | 0% |
| Gross income on non-dependant | Non-dependant deduction rate |
|---|---|
| £255.99 or less (and Universal Credit claimants over 25) | £4.90 |
| £256-£449.99 | £10.05 |
| £445 to £553.99 | £12.60 |
| £554 and above | £15.10 |
Related content
Contact the Benefits Team
When contacting us about an existing claim, please remember to include your reference number in your email.
Address: Oxford City CouncilPO Box 10
Oxford
OX1 1EN
